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MURDERED Cunupia couple, retired police corporal Kenneth Mackan and his wife Lilawatie “Leela” Mackan were cremated yesterday following a servicel at their Welcome Road, Cunupia home, the same place their bodies were found on Monday.

A 24-year-old man who police said is their main suspect remained in police custody up to last night still being questioned.

He has not been charged.

The funeral service was attended by almost 40 mourners, the Sunday Express observed.

According to 3(1)(B) of the Public Health 2019 Novel Coronavirus Regulations 2020, with listed exceptions, citizens are not allowed to gather in groups exceeding five.

Breach of this will result in an offence being committed.

Last month, nine people were detained by police for gathering in a group that exceeded five.

The nine were detained at the funeral service for a murder victim.

A relative of the Mackhans told the Sunday Express that uniformed police on duty yesterday told everyone to stand far apart.

Almost everyone in attendance wore masks and stood some distance from one another under a tent in the yard of the couple’s home as their bodies lay side by side.

Cries of relatives were heard from outside the home.

They declined to speak to the Sunday Express later yesterday.

The bodies were taken to the Caroni Cremation Site where they were given final rites.

A relative who did not want to be identified said they were remembered as nice people who were warm to everyone they met.

Kenneth Mackan, 63, and his wife Lilawatie, 61, were found dead at their Welcome Road home on Monday around 10.30 a.m. when investigators went there after recovering a Hyundai Tucson from the suspect.

The vehicle was registered to that address and was in Kenneth Mackan’s name.

Before entering the house the police were told by relatives who live nearby that the couple had not been seen in a week and there was a stench coming from the house.

Officers found Kenneth’s body in a barrel while his wife’s body was found in a large suitcase.

Trinidad and Tobago has been spared the most “vulgar” displays of systemic racism. But we are not immune.

This is the view of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Asked about the developments taking place in the US, which have led to anti-racism demonstrations all over the world as countries grapple with insidious and systemic racism and which in Trinidad and Tobago has played out in strong reaction to racist and insensitive statements by some nationals, the Prime Minister said: “The fear that we have today is that there seems to be a new normal that is developing where the higher values that we thought we were ascribing to and the gains that we were making could be so easily lost.